The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-04-28
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Timely Discourse on the Signifi-
canoe Of the Deluge.
An Urgent Plea to Sinners to Enter the Ark
of Safety-The Doors Open to ALL
A Broad-Guage Gospel aad
.- Safe Haven.

1850 Safe Haven.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, during his re-
cent Western tour, delivered the following
sermon at Des Moines, Ia, on 'sThe Signifi-
canoe Of the Deluge,p taking for his text:
Come thou and all thy house into the ark
Genesis, vii, L. a
The eloquent preacher said:
We do not need the Bible to prove the
: Deluge. The biologists hammer an
nounces it. Sea-shells and marine forma-
tons on the top of some of the highest
mountains of the earth prove that at some
time the waters washed over the top of
the Alps and Andes. In what way the
catastrophe came, we know not-whether
by the stroke of comet, or by flashes of
lightning changing the air into water, or
by stroke of the hand of God, like the
stroke of the Ak between the horns of the
OK, the earth staggered. To meet the
catastrophe, God ordered great ship
built. 1t was to be without Prov, for it
was to sail to no shore. 1t was
to be without helm, for no human
hand should guide it. Itwas vast struct-
sure, probably as large as two or three
Cunard Steamers 1t was the Great East
ern of olden time. The ships done. The
door is open. The lizards crawl in. The
cattle walk in. The grasshoppers hop in.
The birds fly in. The invitation goes forth
to Noah: a
Come thou and all thy house into the ark.
just one human family embark on the
strange voyage, and hear the door slam
shut. A great storm sweeps along the
hills and bends the cedars until all the
4 branches snap IN the gale. There
is moan in the wind like unto
the moan of dying world.
The blackness Of the heavens is shattered
by the fare of the lghtHings, that look
down into the waters, and throw a ghast-
iness on the face of the mountains. How
strange it looks How suffocating the air
seemsl The big drops of rain plash upon
the upturned faces of those who are.
watching the. tempest. Crashl go the
rocks in convulsion. Boom! go the burst
= ing heavens. The inhabitants of thetearth,
instead OF fleeing to the house top and
mountain-top, as men have fancied, sit
down in dumb, white horror to die. For
when God grinds mountains to pieces, and
lets the ocean slip its cable. there is no
{ place for mensto fly to. See the ark pitch
and tumble in the surf; while from its
windows the passengers. look out upon
Z the shipwreck of o race and the carcasses
of dead world. Woe to the mountains!
"a Woe to the seal as 5ssssssafAa9ss
Well how did Noah and his family come
into the arkl Did they climb in at the
window or come down the roof
No, they went through the door,
And just so, il we get into the ark of
Gods mercy, it will be through Christ
{ the door. The entrance to the ark
y OF old must have been very large
entrance. We know that it was, from the
tact that there were monster animals in
the earlier ages; and, in order to get
p them into the ark two and two, according
to the Bible statement, the door must have
been very wide and very high. So the
door into the mercy of God is a large
door. We go in, not two by two, but by
hundreds, aud by thousands, and by mill
ions Yes, all the nations of the earth
may go in, ten millions abreast
@ The door Of the ancient ark was in the
side So now it is through the side of
Christine pierced side, the wlde-epen
side, the heart slde-that we enter Anal
the Roman soldier, thrusting his spear
into the Saviour's side, expected only to
let the blood out. but he opened the way
to let all the world in. o what broad
gospel to preachl If man is about to
give an entertainment he issues
one hundred or two hundred in
vitations, carefully put up and
directed to the particular persons whom
he wishes to entertain. But God our Faith
er makes banquet, and goes out to the
front door OF heaven, and stretches out
his hands over land and sea- and with a
voice that penetrates the Hindoo Jungle,
and the Greenland ice-castle, and Brazil
ian groves, and English factory, and
American home, cries out:
Come, for all things are now ready.
- Rowland Hill said that he hoped to get
into heaven through the crevices of the
door. But he was not obliged thus to go in.
After having preached the gospel in Sur
rey Chapel, going up toward heaven, the
gate-keeper cried:
a'sass Lift up your head, I'VE everlasting gates,
and let this man come in"
u The dying thief went in. Richard Bax-
ter and Robert Newton went in Europe,
eAsia, Africa, North and South America,
may yet go through this wide door with
out crowding. Ho, every one, all condi-
. tons all ranks all peoplesl
= Luther said that this truth was worth
carrying on ones knees from Rome to
Jerusalem; but think it worth carrying
all around the globe, and all around the
= heavens, that 3eag :.
God SO loved the world that he gave his only
begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, bat have everlasting life.
esas Whosoever. will, let him come through
the large door.
Archimedes wanted fulcrum on which
to place his lever, and then he said that
he could move the world. Calvary is the
fulcrum, and the cross of Christ is the
lever; and by that power all nations shall
yet be lifted.
Further: It Is door that swings both
ways. do not know whether the door of
the ancient ark was lifted, or rolled on
hlngess but this door Of Christ opens
both ways. 1t swings out toward ali our
woes; it swings in toward the raptures of
heaven. 1t swings In to let us in; it
swings out to let our ministering ones
come out AL are one in Christ-Chris-
! tans on earth and saints in heaven.
One army Of the living God,
At His command we bow;
Part OF the host have crossed the flood,
And part are crossing now.
Swing in, . blessed doorl until all the
earth shall go in and live Swing out
until all the heavens come forth to cele-
brate the victory y